The expression “street children” describes children in two different types of life situations:
On the one hand, these are children with contact to their families, who spend a majority of their life on the street. On the other hand, these are children living on the street without contact to their families. Both have in common that the street is their central point in life.
Reasons
There is more than one reason to explain the phenomenon of street children: social change (land flight, industrialization) is as much a reason as social injustice driven by the dominating class and political structure. Most of the time however, massive problems in the families (alcoholism, violence etc.) drive children onto the street.
Living on the street poses many sustainable social risks like:
- Lack of sufficient school education
- Harm for body and soul
- Criminality, drugs and prostitution
Often, the children need to generate the majority of the household income. By taking early responsibility in the family, children lack room for their personal age appropriate development. This takes them the chance to disrupt the circle of poverty.
The street is where the children spend most of their day time. To survive, they often earn a few pesos through begging, services like cleaning car windows, selling sweets or small criminal acts.
This is what we want to change!